Breaking The Silence
by Animegirl1129
Summary: JaSpin. In which Spinelli gets in over his head with a Jackal PI case, Jason has his hands full dealing with the fall-out, and a serial killer is on the loose. Previously 'A Deadly Silence'
1. Chapter 1

A Deadly Silence

_**I started this a while ago, but recently started working on it again, with major help from suerum, who is - for the record, awesome - it's not quite done yet, bit it's getting there. Set a bit in the future (November 2010-ish) and assumes Maxie and Spinelli broke up and that Jason and Sam have also called it quits again. Mix between a casefile fic and a regular drama/hurt/comfort/romance kind of fic. Original characters aren't mine, even though I may not actually want them. Reviews are awesome, and enjoy!  
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**_**Chapter 1**_**  
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The building was abandoned, had been for a long while, Jason thought as he watched for movement in the windows. The two story building had once been some family owned jewelry store or something similar, but the occupants had long since moved out and the business had long since gone under. Now it was nothing more than a home for rats and insects.

Despite its supposedly uninhabited state, there were fresh prints in the dirt and dust on the front porch and tire marks from where a car must have sped off. On top of all that, this was where the GPS on Spinelli's phone had shown his location.

Jason could think of no good reason for him to be here.

Jason circled the house slowly, gun out and raised in the dark of the night, prepared for any danger that he might encounter. The backdoor was just barely opened and he managed to slip inside without making a sound.

The room he stepped into had been some sort of showroom, it appeared. Off to the side of the large room was a staircase, no doubt leading up to what had once been the family's living quarters.

There came a noise from overhead and Jason was a little more cautious as he ascended the stairs. The old floorboards creaked in protest at his movements, but there was no avoiding it. The thumping noise sounded again, and then again.

The door at the top of the stairs was slightly ajar as well and he edged it open enough to peer into the room. What he saw was enough to speed him up, other presences in the room be damned.

It was Spinelli. Spinelli lying on the floor next to two very, very dead bodies and covered in blood. His or theirs, Jason wasn't sure. All he could think of was Spinelli and Spinelli being hurt and Spinelli being dead and none of that was any kind of right at all.

"Spinelli," the armed mobster said, crossing the room in a near panic. He swung his gun from side to side, clearing the room. No one. And then he was on his knees at Spinelli's side in seconds, rolling him over onto his back. His wrists were tied together, as were his ankles, and he was gagged with a piece of cloth tied around his mouth. "Spinelli!"

Green eyes stared up at him, wide and terror filled, as if he didn't know what was happening.

Jason landed a hand on his chest, tugging at the cloth gag, finally getting it undone. "Spin- Spinelli, it's okay. You're alright. Relax." He said, expecting to hear frantic and panicked 'stone cold's and 'jackal's and whatever other nicknames this situation called for come spilling out of Spinelli's mouth. None came. "Spinelli, you are alright, right? It… it isn't your blood."

Spinelli's eyes wandered over to the forms of the two bloodied bodies beside him, quickly darting away again. Jason had followed his line of sight.

Boys, around Spinelli's age, Jason surmised even as he used his pocket knife to cut through the zip ties on wrists and ankles. They looked like college kids. Frankly, he'd be amazed if they had any blood left in their bodies given the amount on the floor all around them. Whoever had done this had been one very demented person, given the amount of damage done. The sight nearly turned his well-seasoned stomach. He looked away, too.

"What happened?" He asked, once again focused solely on Spinelli, looking him over to verify that he hadn't been harmed. Aside from gashes on his wrists where the zip ties had cut into his flesh, he seemed uninjured. "Who did this?"

Instead of an answer, Spinelli surged forward, sitting up enough to bury his head against Jason's neck, away from the sight of the two dead boys. He was shaking, all out sobbing into Jason's shirt.

"Alright." Jason said, one arm wrapped around Spinelli to keep him still. He could understand not wanting to see anymore of such a gruesome sight. "You stay like that, I'm calling the police."

In the time it took for the sirens to make their approach and for the handful of officials to clear and enter the house, Spinelli still hadn't said a word. He hadn't moved at all, actually. If it weren't for the fact that he was still shaking and that Jason could feel the sharp rise and fall of his chest, he would have been afraid a similar fate had somehow met his protégé.

It was Mac who was first up the stairs, followed by a handful of uniformed officers. Even the veteran commissioner seemed unnerved by the gruesome sight of the crime scene which he had entered, and three of the less-seasoned officers behind him looked rather green, one even retreated back down the stairs. "What happened here?" He asked, question directed at Jason who undoubtedly had something to do with it.

"No idea. He won't tell me anything."

Mac stared at the blob crushed against Jason's chest, finally determining it to be Spinelli. "Does he need an ambulance?" Jason nodded in reply and he called for paramedics to come up. "What do you know, Morgan?"

"Ugh, I showed up here - tracked Spinelli's phone since I couldn't get in touch with him. He was tied up, they were dead already." Jason explained. There was no reason to stonewall the investigation right now. Spinelli was a witness at best, a victim at worst. Cooperating would only mean Spinelli got to the hospital faster.

The paramedics were in the room then – looking likewise disturbed by the grisly sight of the death and gore spread across the room – and Mac nodded to himself in silent contemplation. "Go with him, I'll catch you at the hospital for your statements."

"Whatever you need." The mobster answered, his attention zeroing in on Spinelli. "Come on, we need to get up now. You need to get checked out."

Slowly, reluctantly, Spinelli peeled himself away enough so that they could stand. Or rather, Jason could stand, as the hacker's knees more or less gave out on him. Supported by Jason, and once again clinging onto him for dear life, it was evident that he was not okay with the EMT's approach.

"Spinelli, you need to-" 'Let go' was to have been the rest of the sentence, but he was clinging tighter and shaking his head and he was very clearly not going to let go. "I don't think he's hurt, I'll bring him down, if that's okay?" Jason requested of the paramedics.

They agreed and slowly but surely Jason managed to lead him out of the room and down the stairs. He clung to Jason's side the entire time, barely supporting his own weight and hopping slightly so as not to put pressure on his right leg.

"Who did this?" Jason asked again as they made their way out of the building and to the waiting ambulance.

Silence. More and more silence. Spinelli's eyes wouldn't meet his.

"Alright. You don't have to tell me now, let's just get you to the hospital."


	2. Chapter 2

Breaking The Silence

_**I started this a while ago, but recently started working on it again, with major help from suerum, who is - for the record, awesome - it's not quite done yet, but it's getting there. Set a bit in the future (November 2010-ish) and assumes Maxie and Spinelli broke up and that Jason and Sam have also called it quits again. Mix between a casefile fic and a regular drama/hurt/comfort/romance kind of fic. Original characters aren't mine, even though I may not actually want them. Reviews are awesome, and enjoy! (Previously titles 'A Deadly Silence')  
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**_**Chapter _2_**_**  
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"Spinelli," Robin implored of her uncooperative patient. "Spinelli, we need to get you checked out. Can you please let go of Jason so we can x-ray your foot and get you into some clean clothes?"

Jason shook his head, knowing her efforts wouldn't work. Spinelli had gone through the entire ambulance ride and through most of the triage process without relinquishing his grip on Jason's arm. He doubted asking nicely would prove effective.

And, as expected, Spinelli remained silent and still against his mentor's side.

"Jason, can't you talk him down?"

Jason shrugged. "Haven't been able to yet. But, give me a few minutes." The doctor nodded and stepped away, leaving Jason and Spinelli behind. Jason shifted until Spinelli had no choice but to look at him before he started speaking. "I need you to listen to me, alright? Whatever you saw, whatever happened in that house, I know it scared you and I know you don't want to talk about it right now – you don't have to. But, I need you to cooperate just for a little while. If not with the doctors, then at least with me, okay? Spinelli, can you do that?"

A long moment passed and Jason was beginning to fear that Spinelli had gone all but catatonic on him, but slowly, so slowly, Spinelli nodded and his hand loosened its immeasurably tight grip on Jason's arm to instead hold lightly onto the bloodied black t-shirt.

"Okay, good." Jason said, with a sigh of relief that he'd gotten through.

Robin returned a moment later with two sets of scrubs, some towels, and bags for their ruined clothes. "If you can get him to change, then we can take him to x-ray. You can stay with him through that, too, if he still won't let go."

Jason nodded and took the offered items. "Alright," he said, once again alone with Spinelli. "This'll be an interesting process... You have to let go of me for a few minutes. I'll be right here." He promised and Spinelli's hand reluctantly fell away from him. Slowly, he eased the jacket from Spinelli's shoulders and tossed it into one of the bags. "Lift your arms," Jason requested and Spinelli complied, raising his arms so that his similarly ruined t-shirt could join the jacket. He wiped away as much of the blood as he could, but between the limited abilities of the towel and the fact that some of the blood had started to dry, it wasn't proving to be terribly effective.

"Stand up for me, will you?" Jason prompted, once he'd done as much as he could. Slowly, Spinelli complied with his request, awkwardly balanced on his good foot. "I need to get your jeans off." It was more of a warning than anything else, and Jason set to work on this task with quick determination. He wanted this to be done as quickly as possible so that Spinelli could get the tests and treatments he needed so they could go home – maybe there he could try to get Spinelli back to normal. Jeans and boxers were tossed into one of the bags, along with ruined shoes and socks. Another run over with the towel accomplished about as much as it had before and within moments, Jason was carefully tugging the loose scrubs into place on his protégé's pliant form.

"Just one minute." Jason assured the shaking Spinelli, who was already trying to reach out for him again. "I just need to change."

He shrugged out of his own ruined jacket and shirt and used what was left of the totally useless towels to get the blood off of his hands and neck – it hadn't completely soaked through his clothes like it had on Spinelli – and soon his jeans and shoes joined the pile of would-be evidence. He'd barely just pulled on his own scrubs when Spinelli grabbed onto him again.

Seated side by side on the hospital bed in the triage room, they waited in silence.

Robin returned a few moments later, and was pleased to see that Jason had accomplished the task she had appointed him. It meant that Spinelli had complied with what he had asked. A good thing. "You ready for your x-ray?" She inquired toward Spinelli, distantly hoping for an answer.

Jason nudged Spinelli off of the bed again, this time into the wheelchair that Robin had brought in. "His wrists are pretty sliced up, too..." He told her, in case she hadn't caught it before – as the sleeves of Spinelli's jacket had pretty well hidden the wounds.

"We'll check them out as soon as this is done." She assured the clearly worried Jason, and nodded toward the hall.

Spinelli maintained a fierce grip on Jason's hand the entire time he was being rolled from the Emergency Room to Radiology. Jason accompanied him into the small imaging area and the hacker didn't fight him when he pried his grip from his wrist as they transferred him to the bed in the room. It appeared that having Jason in close proximity was enough to keep him compliant, but then when it was evident that his mentor was leaving along with the radiation technician, his placid, almost catatonic, demeanor rapidly and radically altered.

He still didn't speak, but he started making the most heartrending little mewling sounds that caused Jason's blood to run cold as he heard them. Before he could turn around and go back to Spinelli in order to help him, even if it meant he didn't get the damn x-ray, it was already too late. Spinelli had attempted to follow after him and, entirely oblivious to his injured foot and apparently not feeling any pain, he tried to walk or maybe even run toward Jason. The injured foot, however, proved incapable of supporting his weight and it gave way, and Spinelli crumpled to the floor before Jason could reach him.

Panicked himself now, he knelt down by the younger man, fearful of what he might have done to make his foot worse, but none of that mattered in the least when he got a look at his face. Spinelli's complexion, though usually pale, was now so white it was difficult to believe there was any blood under the skin. His green eyes were bloodshot and wide with terror at Jason's apparent abandonment and tears flowed unchecked down his face. Worst of all, though, was that he continued to make those high pitched cries of distress, his chest heaving as he fought to get in enough oxygen. He was perilously close to hyperventilating.

Jason didn't hesitate, without even thinking he scooped the boy up in his arms and carried him back toward the radiology bed. Spinelli's arms were wrapped around his neck in a death grip and Jason could feel his heart thudding like that of a panicked bird.

"Spinelli," his voice was low, gentle and patient with a tone he only ever used when speaking with children, "Spinelli, listen to me. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. I promise. They'll have to do the x-ray with me in the room." He glared over Spinelli's head at the technician who flinched and swallowed nervously as he bobbed his head in frantic agreement with Jason's request. "So, see, everything's fine, but you're going to have to let go of my neck." He felt Spinelli's arms tighten convulsively around his neck at those foreboding words. "It's alright," he said soothingly, even though he felt as though he had an iron band constricting his neck, making it difficult to speak and even to breathe. "You can hold onto me - I'll be right here - but we need to get you arranged on the bed so they can x-ray your foot."

There was no change, not in the grip, not in Spinelli's position, not in anything except that those god awful kittenish sounds had stopped and silence once more reigned.

"As soon as they check your ankle and your wrists, we'll go home."

It seemed as though Jason had found the magic words because Spinelli turned his head up and scanned Jason's face intently as though testing the reliability of his claim. Whatever he saw reassured him, because he released his stranglehold on Jason's neck and fell back onto the bed, his eyes never leaving Jason's.

Jason bit his lip in consternation when he saw how the wounds in Spinelli's wrists were bleeding freely again due to pressure of holding onto him so tightly. But, he schooled his face back to calm neutrality so as not to upset Spinelli any further.

The technician came up behind him and with shaking hands slipped a lead lined apron onto Jason, and put the one that had fallen off of the decidedly distressed patient back into place. "The x-ray will be directional so there shouldn't really be any issue with you staying in here." He told Jason, who nodded abruptly, his entire focus was on Spinelli, who once more was gripping his hand with a heretofore unsuspected level of strength.

The x-ray technician quickly went about carefully and correctly positioning the ankle in question – now much more obviously injured and swollen than it had been previously – and rather hastily ducked back into the adjoining room so he could start the imager. "I just need you to hold still for a few seconds, alright?" He said, mostly on instinct because he doubted he'd actually get through to the boy with the busted up ankle. Within the promised few seconds the process was complete. "I need this angle and then you'll be done." The tech amended, quickly re-adjusting the ankle for another view. Again, the process went smoothly.

"That it?" Jason pressed, his hand still caught in Spinelli's vice-grip like hold.

"I'll have the results to Dr. Scorpio in just a few minutes." The tech said, already gathering up the printed images. "And you can go back to the ER, but I can tell you already that he's got at least one broken bone." The tech said, spotting the break had been painfully obvious.

Jason shut his eyes and sighed heavily, let the guilt hit him with full force. Either Spinelli had further aggravated an already broken leg or else he had possibly broken it just now, all because he'd made Spinelli panic. He definitely wasn't letting that happen again. "Alright." He said, once again forcing himself to act with the stone cold composition that Spinelli nicknamed him for. "We'll be back in triage."

Carefully, so as not to jostle or further injure Spinelli's broken leg, Jason maneuvered the hacker into his arms and then back into the wheelchair that they'd left parked outside of the imaging area. Spinelli still clung to his arm as he steered them toward the area and back into the triage curtain they'd been in before. Someone had, at least, removed the bags of bloody clothes.

"Almost finished." Jason promised, as he helped Spinelli out of the chair and back onto the bed. "Won't be much longer."

It was only moments later that Robin returned, folder of freshly printed images tucked under her arm. Her eyes, laced with concern, fell on Jason - obviously she'd heard of Spinelli's meltdown. "You guys okay?" She asked, taking note of the fresh blood and the bruise forming on one of Spinelli's forearms, presumably where he'd hit when he'd fallen.

When Spinelli offered no answer – as they'd come to expect – Jason sighed. "He's okay now. A little bruised up and it probably didn't help his leg much, but okay." Just as long as he didn't get too far away, anyway.

"Well, there's some relatively good news - the break was clean. We won't have to do anything but cast it. And we'll wrap up his wrists, too. Mac's here for your statements, but somehow I don't think Spinelli's quite up to that right now." Robin said, scribbling notes and orders on her patients chart. "I'll send someone in to do the cast."

"Alright. Can you, ugh, ask Mac to come in here? I'd go out there to talk to him, but I don't want…" He didn't have to say the rest. She got the message.

She nodded swiftly as she ducked back out of the curtained area. "I'll send him in."

Mac and the nurse who was sent to cast Spinelli's leg came in at the same time.

"He won't talk." Jason said, as he watched the woman work on Spinelli's leg. Luckily, the nurse cleaned up his residually bloodstained leg exponentially more effectively than Jason had before the actual casting process began. "When he does, I'll call you, but until then, I don't think he can help you."

Mac sighed, a disheartened sound that told Jason that they hadn't gotten many clues from the crime scene itself. But, he'd worry about that later.

"I'll give you my statement, if you want it, but I already told you everything I know."

The detective shrugged. "I'll get yours later. Once you've gotten Spinelli settled." With a curt nod, Mac excused himself, leaving them alone as the nurse wrapped Spinelli's leg in padding.

Spinelli's grip tightened immeasurably on his arm when the nurse pulled out the actual casting material. It was red. Jason caught on immediately – Spinelli had seen way too much red lately. "Wait, wait." He said. "Is… is there another color you can use?"

Digging through the supplies, she recovered a blinding shade of neon pink and a much more subdued sea-greenish color. Jason nodded to the latter of the two choices. He could see nothing wrong with green, and he could tell Spinelli agreed when the younger's grip loosened.

The rest of the process went easily enough. The nurse wrapped the fiberglass material around Spinelli's leg, shaped it accordingly and then declared him done. The clean up and bandage work on his arms took mere moments, and by then the cast had hardened and set properly.

"I'll just get a set of crutches and your discharge paperwork." The nurse said, smiling kindly as she left them alone.

Jason grabbed his cell phone from the pile of non-ruined, non-bloodstained, non-confiscated items. Somehow it had survived. "Max'll have to come get us. My car's not here." He said, as opposed to 'still where I found you'. "We'll be home in no time."


	3. Chapter 3

Breaking The Silence

_**I started this a while ago, but recently started working on it again, with major help from suerum, who is - for the record, awesome - it's not quite done yet, but it's getting there. Set a bit in the future (November 2010-ish) and assumes Maxie and Spinelli broke up and that Jason and Sam have also called it quits again. Mix between a casefile fic and a regular drama/hurt/comfort/romance kind of fic. Original characters aren't mine, even though I may not actually want them. Reviews are awesome, and enjoy! (Previously titles 'A Deadly Silence')  
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**_**Chapter _3_**_**  
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The first thing Jason did upon getting them home was steer Spinelli toward the bathroom. While he'd cleaned Spinelli up as best he could at the hospital with completely useless towels, it by no means meant that either of them was particularly clean. Spinelli's skin still seemed tinted red with dried blood in places, and despite the clean-up efforts of the nurse who'd patched Spinelli up, more had spread down his arms from his wrists when he'd aggravated his injuries, and it wasn't as if the nice, relaxing, warm water wouldn't do the younger man some good anyway.

"You okay to take a shower?" Jason asked.

Spinelli didn't answer and Jason hadn't exactly expected him to. He just stared at the pattern of the tile floor and did nothing.

"Or a bath? Might be easier." He suggested, but still got no response. Granted, bath or shower, either would likely prove to be somewhat more troublesome with the newly casted leg. "If I stay?" The elder pressed, for he certainly didn't want to relive the transformation from silent Spinelli to all out panicked Spinelli. The kid didn't need any more injuries.

Spinelli seemed to consider this offer and, eventually, he silently nodded his acquiescence.

"Okay." Jason agreed and moved to start the water. He pointedly pretended not to notice how Spinelli jumped at the loud sound of the water first hitting the floor of the tub. Once it was at the right temperature, he let it go about filling up and turned his attention on Spinelli.

He tugged off Spinelli's shirt for the second time in two hours. Bruises from his fall were starting to form on his hip and his arm, where'd he'd hit the hard linoleum. He undid the bandages on Spinelli's wrists – they would for sure get wet – he'd rewrap them later. The scrub pants proved harder to remove, with the obtrusive cast in the way, but eventually he got them off, tossing the discarded items of clothing in a pile on the floor to trash later. On a final note, he pulled one of the long plastic bags the hospital had offered them over the cast to protect it from any water.

Another check of the water, and Jason nudged Spinelli over. "In you go." He instructed, though he absently wondered how difficult this would prove to be with the cast in the way.

Spinelli complied robotically. He climbed into the tub and slipped down slowly, trying to keep his bad leg out of the water as much as he could. Once settled, he propped it up on the end of the bathtub.

"Okay?" Jason asked, leaning back against the sink on the other side of the small room.

He received a single nod in response to his inquiry, and Spinelli dragged water up and down his arms in the beginning attempts at getting the bloodstains to disappear. And, for a moment, Jason thought that Spinelli was actually okay – not totally okay, he had a feeling that was a long, long way off, but okay enough to maybe take a bath on his own. But where most people would have stopped to grab soap, Spinelli didn't, just kept absently splashing and scrubbing at his skin with his hands. It wasn't accomplishing much.

By the time Jason realized that this would get done a lot more effectively if he stepped in to help, he noticed that Spinelli had shifted to scratching at his skin, and not scrubbing. "Spin- don't." He said, as calmly as he could manage under the circumstances. He crossed the room, caught Spinelli's hand in his own, careful both of the wound on his wrist and of Spinelli's currently less than secure mental state, and slowly pulled it away. The younger hadn't drawn blood, but light red lines appeared where he'd been scratching.

Grabbing up the bottle of body wash and a fresh washcloth, he set to work for himself. Spinelli sat statue still as Jason washed the blood away from his skin, his arms settled on the edges of the tub and out of the warm water that made the fresh wounds sting, even as the water began to take on a reddish tint.

Once that lengthy and arduous task was completed, Jason moved on. Spinelli's hair was far worse than the rest of him had been, though. Seemingly caked in dried blood, Jason hadn't even tried to do anything about it at the hospital. Standing up to grab the detachable shower head from its place, he flipped the switch to drain the dirty water and then turned the shower on.

"Lean your head back." Jason instructed, letting the warm water fall over Spinelli's hair until it ran mostly clear. A thorough run through with shampoo and one last rinse removed the last traces of blood.

By then, Spinelli had really started to relax a bit. He wasn't tense and on full alert like he'd seemed at the hospital. Calm was a long way off from back to normal, but, Jason thought, as he shut off the water, it was a start.

"Alright," he said, urging Spinelli out of the tub and, once balanced properly on the one leg he could use, into the towel he'd grabbed. "We'll get you dried off and dressed, re-bandage your wrists, and get you to bed. Sound good?"

Spinelli frowned in answer, apparently not terribly relieved by that plan of action, but he didn't put up a fight as Jason went about getting him dried off. "Will you stay here while I go grab you some clothes?" Jason asked – it would be easier than maneuvering Spinelli across the hall. "I'll be right back. I promise."

A long moment passed, and Jason was just about to rescind his request and lead Spinelli to the regrettably pink room when the younger man nodded slowly.

"Yes? Okay." Jason said, already nearly out the bathroom door. He didn't want to be away from Spinelli long. He found a grey sweatshirt hanging on the back of the door to Spinelli's room and he grabbed up a pair of boxers from the dresser. As he was searching for pajama pants, a better idea struck him, so he quickly took off to his room to find an old pair of his own – they'd be bigger on Spinelli, but easier to get on over the cumbersome cast. He was back in the bathroom in under a minute.

And, in that minute, Spinelli hadn't moved at all. He was exactly where he had been when Jason had left him, perfectly fine and unharmed, which Jason was quite thankful to see. With a sigh of pure relief, he set about his task of getting Spinelli into the clothes he'd gathered. Once he'd gotten that done, he found the supplies he'd need for Spinelli's wrists and helped him hobble down the hall to the pink room.

Jason sat down on the edge of the bed beside Spinelli, and caught one of the younger's hands in his own. With skilled efficiency – he'd patched up his fair share of battle scars in his many years at work for Sonny – he applied antibiotic ointment and then gauze bandage, followed by a self-adhering wrap to keep it all in place, first to one wrist and then to the other.

"Okay, that's done." Jason declared, setting the supplies on the bedside table and tossing the refuse into the trashcan under it. "Now, you get some sleep." He said, helping Spinelli get under the covers and comfortably settled. He moved to back away, to lean against the wall by the door, but Spinelli's anxious green eyes caught his just before he flipped out the light. "Don't worry. I'll stay."

The words seemed to put Spinelli at ease – he was asleep within moments.


	4. Chapter 4

Breaking The Silence

_**I started this a while ago, but recently started working on it again, with major help from suerum, who is - for the record, awesome - it's not quite done yet, but it's getting there. Set a bit in the future (November 2010-ish) and assumes Maxie and Spinelli broke up and that Jason and Sam have also called it quits again. Mix between a casefile fic and a regular drama/hurt/comfort/romance kind of fic. Major, major thanks to suerum for helping me out on this. Original characters aren't mine, even though I may not actually want them. Reviews are awesome, and enjoy!  
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**_**Chapter _4_**_**  
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Jason stayed until Spinelli was asleep.

Once he was sure the younger man's breathing had leveled out, slow and deep, he quietly pushed himself off the wall he'd been leaning against and slipped out of the dark room.

After a quick stop off in his room to grab a change of clothes for himself, he headed back to the bathroom to get his own shower. While he had been nowhere near as messy and bloody as Spinelli had been in the aftermath of what had happened at the house, he still was quite in need of one.

He made it quick, was out within moments and into a grey t-shirt and old black sweatpants. He'd go to sleep soon, too, just as soon as he cleaned up a bit. The scrubs they'd been sent home in ended up in the trash, the towels he piled up and tossed in the laundry.

After that, Jason found himself in the kitchen, fixing a quick bite to eat before heading to bed. He resisted the urge to grab a beer, settling for a bottle of water instead, and silently thought over what he would do to the sick freak who'd done this – whatever 'this' was, he still wasn't quite sure what had happened – to Spinelli.

It was somewhere in the midst of editing his plans so that they did not include mass quantities of blood – there were plenty of ways to do it. Perhaps strangulation. Or maybe he'd just break every bone in the guy's body first, and then strangle him – for his own sanity as well as for Spinelli's, when he heard it.

A loud, resounding 'thud' from upstairs. He was moving in milliseconds, he would not let Spinelli get hurt again.

"Spinelli!" He called out in warning, to assure the younger man that he was close, maybe so he wouldn't panic and try to walk on his injured leg again. "Spinelli, don't move!" He said, now just outside of the door to the pink room.

Spinelli was sprawled quite ungracefully on the floor about a foot away from the bed. Sheets and blankets trailed after his crumpled form and items from the nightstand were scattered around him, as it was clear he had grabbed at it in an attempt to stop his downward descent, but to no avail.

He was making that sound again, that heart-wrenching, pathetic mewling noise that had accompanied his last desperate, clambering attempt to get to Jason. Wide, panicked eyes locked on his form as he entered the room, flipping on the lights just before he fell to his knees beside his distressed protégé. The hand that landed on Spinelli's shoulder while the other tried to untangle him from the mess of sheets and blankets told Jason that Spinelli's heart was all but racing again, and his breath came in short pants.

"You're okay." Jason said, as he shifted Spinelli into a sitting position. "It's alright, you're okay."

Spinelli's anxious green eyes turned into accusing ones, glaring rather pointedly at Jason. He tried to pull away, but the sheets still tangled around him and the state of his leg prevented him from getting very far.

"Spinelli, stop – you'll hurt yourself." Jason said, reaching out to still the escape attempts.

But, then Spinelli was shoving hard at him, pushing him away and that certainly got Jason's undivided attention.

"What-" He started to protest, but Spinelli all out refused to look at him now, didn't even seem to hear him. He pulled away when Jason tried to stop him. Finally, it dawned on him - "Because I left?"

One singular, short, nod was the only answer he got.

He felt like an idiot. Here he was downstairs contemplating revenge instead of realizing just how damaged Spinelli actually was by his unknown experiences. He had to turn his head away for a moment to hide the expression in his eyes, he knew Spinelli would see the anger and think it was directed at him. And now wasn't the time for any further slip-ups.

This situation was already well beyond his comprehension. He just didn't naturally know how to deal with feelings; they were supposed to lie below the surface, controlled and hidden. He was out of his depth with this level of trauma and he was petrified that he didn't have the delicacy to handle it, to be there for Spinelli in the way he needed him to be. Yet, there wasn't anyone else, so, taking a deep breath he turned back to the younger man to find his eyes on him again, their depths filled with an accusing betrayal that threatened his own composure.

He reached out a hand toward Spinelli and was amazed at the sense of desolation he felt when the hacker pulled his head out of reach, his eyes still sparkling with distrust. He was biting his bottom lip and tears stood in his eyes, and Jason realized that he was actually shaking - small, constant tremors that were coursing up and down his entire body.

Jason swallowed and reached for the boy again. This time, he wrapped both arms around him and pulled him in closer. Spinelli didn't attempt to knock Jason away this time, but his entire body communicated his resistance as he stiffened, momentarily driving the tremors into submission.

Jason forged ahead, resting his chin on top of the soft, silky head and inhaling the smell of shampoo, he closed his eyes and started speaking, searching instinctively for the right words.

"I'm sorry," that part, anyway, was both true and easy, and somehow needed to be said more than once to convince the stubborn boy in his arms. "I shouldn't have left you, it was stupid and selfish of me, Spinelli." He paused, thinking of how to convince the younger man of his sincere repentance so he would once again be trusted. "I knew, I absolutely knew how scared you were and I said I would stay and then you woke up and I was gone. That was wrong of me, wasn't it?" He asked the question softly, his arms tightening fiercely around Spinelli as he awaited his response.

Again, there was a single nod, a once up and down bob of the head beneath his chin. "Yeah," Jason agreed, "I was a jerk and now you're thinking you can't trust me, right?" He stopped again, holding his breath as he prayed for an answer, for the hope that he was conducting the closest thing to a dialogue that Spinelli was capable of.

Once more, Spinelli gave a nod and Jason sighed, relieved to know he was at least listening. "So, maybe you could give me a second chance. I was stupid, I'll give you that," this time there wasn't any need for him to pause, the sharp up and down motion of Spinelli's head hit Jason's chin and caused him to inadvertently bite his tongue. He could taste the metallic tang of blood in his mouth and the sudden spurt of pain felt like an appropriate punishment for his carelessness.

"Okay," he said wryly, "We're both agreed that I messed up but I didn't mean to scare you, do you believe me?" This was the crucial moment, and Jason tensed as he once again was forced to wait for Spinelli's reply. Seconds passed and Jason's heart plummeted, it looked like maybe they wouldn't get past what he had done. Just when he was getting ready to talk, to say anything, to beg for forgiveness, there was a reprieve - a slow, tentative nod. This time Spinelli turned, and ducking his neck looked back up at Jason.

The tears that had spilled out of his eyes were spilling down his cheeks, but his eyes were no longer filled with an unspoken hostility, they were soft with forgiveness and Jason felt an immeasurable weight lift from his shoulders. "You forgive me?" He asked softly, and this time the nod was quick and decisive.

"Okay," Jason said, swallowing over the sudden lump in his throat, "How about we try this again, and this time, I promise, I will stay. I will be here with you, awake or asleep, no matter what. Sound fair?" Anxious blue eyes met shadowed, exhausted green ones as Spinelli gave a final nod of acknowledgement and agreement.

"Alright." Jason said, heaving a sigh of relief now that Spinelli had acquiesced. "C'mon, then. Bed."

With Jason's aid, Spinelli was quickly unwound from the array of sheets and blankets tangled around him. By the time Jason had straightened the mess out and climbed in beside Spinelli, arms wrapped loosely around the hacker, Spinelli was already nearly asleep.

"I'll be here." Jason promised him again, as he pulled the blankets up and around them.


	5. Chapter 5

Breaking The Silence

_**I started this a while ago, but recently started working on it again, with major help from suerum, who is - for the record, awesome - it's not quite done yet, but it's getting there. Set a bit in the future (November 2010-ish) and assumes Maxie and Spinelli broke up and that Jason and Sam have also called it quits again. Mix between a casefile fic and a regular drama/hurt/comfort/romance kind of fic. Original characters aren't mine, even though I may not actually want them. Reviews are awesome, and enjoy!  
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**_**Chapter _5_**_**  
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Morning came by way of a persistent pounding at the front door. Whoever it was clearly had no intentions of giving up, and despite sleepless nights on behalf of both Jason and Spinelli – the hacker had woken up rather violently on four separate occasions to nightmares, which had then woken Jason (usually because Spinelli swung out and hit him in his mad attempts to escape whatever was attacking him in his dreams) and neither of them got back to sleep easily after such occurrences – they both abandoned the comfort of the bed. Jason opted to quickly change into his typical attire, but Spinelli stayed in the borrowed pajamas, and within a minute they headed down to deal with their early morning visitor.

Jason had deposited the sleepy Spinelli on the couch while he answered the door. It was Maxie, and she blew past him and toward Spinelli so quickly that Jason was sure she was moving at some inhuman speed.

Mac had probably told her what had happened. That didn't mean he had told her of Spinelli's current state of distress.

"Maxie, wait a-" He started to say, but he was too late. She had already crossed the room and was practically tackling Spinelli with a hug.

"Oh, my God, Spinelli, I heard what happened! Are you okay?" She demanded of the younger man, who had frozen where he sat on the sofa. Then he was in all out panic mode again, trying desperately to escape the hold she had on him.

She, somehow, ignored his squirming and continued to talk at him. "What were you thinking? Going into a dangerous situation like that on your own? I thought that was what Jason was for, so you didn't have to get kidnapped and tied up."

Spinelli, though, he had had enough. With one final, hard shove, he pushed her away. It was more forceful than the attempts last night, when he'd tried to get away from Jason. He pulled his knees up to his chest – difficult as it was with the cast, and probably equally painful – and wrapped his arms around them, blocking any future efforts at hugging.

Maxie gasped in shock at his actions, having clearly not expected to be met with such hostile resistance. Pushing and shoving was not typical Spinelli-like behavior, but then this wasn't a typical Spinelli they were dealing with.

"Spinelli!" She snapped at him, but Jason pulled her back, away from his self proclaimed protégé. As far away as he dared to get from Spinelli, anyway. "Hey, get off of me. Spinelli just-"

"Stop." He said, stone cold voice demanding obedience. "You need to stop right now. Spinelli doesn't need this."

"Why is he… acting like that?" She asked him, voice dropping a few levels as she cast a concerned glance at Spinelli. He was still curled in on himself, but his eyes were on Jason, making sure he stayed close. "What's going on?"

Jason sighed, dragged a hand over his face. "He won't talk. He hasn't said a word since I found him."

"What happened to him?"

"What part of 'he won't talk' did you miss, exactly? I don't know what happened. He won't tell me anything. Whatever it was… it involved a lot of blood, thankfully not Spinelli's."

"Ew!" Maxie shuddered dramatically and eyed Spinelli narrowly as though he were still coated in the red viscous substance. "Well, it's obvious he can't just go on like this, Jason. He has to snap out of it. A Spinelli who doesn't talk is like a Manolo shoe without a heel, it's worthless."

"Maxie," Jason couldn't stand her drama at the best of times, but right now he couldn't risk her damaging Spinelli's tender psyche any more than it already was. "You should just leave. When he feels better and things are sorted out, I'll have him call you." Not that Spinelli even had to do that much. He and Maxie had broken up closing in on four months ago – they'd stayed friends, but they didn't talk much anymore.

Maxie responded the way she always did when faced with an ultimatum - she stubbornly ignored it, and by default, Jason. Walking back to the couch, she was practically tiptoeing, as though Spinelli had lost the use of his ears and eyes rather than his voice and simply couldn't see or hear her coming.

Unfortunately that wasn't the case, and he appeared to be entirely uninterested in enduring round two of Maxie's rather unique idea of therapy. Jason watched as Spinelli tensed, he looked ready to bolt off the couch. Without the use of his crutches - which were leaned against the wall - or Jason's aid, he would just end up on the floor again.

Before Jason could get to Spinelli or stop Maxie from doing whatever it was that she was planning, another visitor arrived.

"Jason," it was Diane Miller. Walking through the still open door, she paused at the threshold and took in the scene before her with a raised eyebrow and a quizzical expression on her face. "I heard about what happened to Mr. Grasshopper," she said offhandedly to Jason who was torn between listening to Diane and watching Maxie and Spinelli, "I was down at the PCPD and heard Mac Scorpio and Alexis discussing how he was found. It must have been a simply terrifying experience for the poor boy!"

Maxie proceeded to sit cautiously on the couch next to Spinelli and hold her hand out palm up as though she was trying to pet a wild cat. Spinelli responded by scooting clumsily away from her and came perilously close to falling off the couch in the process.

"I'm sorry - What precisely is she doing?" Diane asked Jason with a sharp edge to her voice.

"Helping Spinelli get over his traumatic experience, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like that." Jason replied tersely as he turned away from Diane, courtesy always losing out to expediency in his book, "I think it's time she left." He added brusquely as he began to make sure of that exact outcome.

"Allow me," Diane said, smoothly gliding by him, her expression grim and her eyes glinted dangerously as she stalked over to the couch where the two young people were engaged in a macabre dance of pursuit and escape.

Maxie kept moving inexorably closer to Spinelli while he was darting frantic glances around the room looking for sanctuary as it seemed that his mentor had failed him in his time of need.

"Miss Jones," Diane said sharply, a small, razor edged smile on her lips, "I must ask you to cease in plying Mr. Grasshopper with your clearly unwanted attentions."

Maxie scowled up at Diane, she had been so intent on proving that she could get Spinelli to revert to his normal self that she hadn't even registered the lawyer's arrival. "Or what?" she retorted, "I think I know Spinelli better than anyone here," she glared at Jason who returned her stare with interest, and for once his eyes weren't icy cold but rather burning with the intense heat of dislike, almost hatred. He'd give Diane her turn at bat but then if it didn't work, he'd throw the intruder out on her skinny butt.

"Well, let's just check on that, shall we?" Diane drawled as she turned her eyes on Spinelli who was following the exchange with close attention. Ever since Diane had come closer he had relaxed and looked less like an imminent flight risk, broken foot and all.

"Mr. Grasshopper," she said, her voice soft and compassionate, "Do you want Maxie's specific brand of help?" It was clear she had already noted the lack of words issuing from the hacker and being intuitive realized that he was in the unnatural state of being mute – whether by physical injury or by mental one, she wasn't sure. Diane phrased the question so it could be answered with a simple yes or no.

Spinelli shook his head vigorously, his hair flying every which way.

"Spinelli!" Maxie's tone was both outraged and injured, but the hacker wouldn't meet her eyes, he tucked his chin in and looked at his hands clenched tightly in his lap. His entire body was rigid with tension.

"Just one more question and then you can rest," Diane said gently, and Spinelli reluctantly raised his head and looked directly at Diane - bypassing Maxie altogether. "Do you want Maxie to leave?" She asked straightforwardly and after the briefest of hesitation as he still refused to look at Maxie he gave a short nod.

"Well, I never," Maxie stood up abruptly from the couch, she bumped the end table and a lamp tumbled off and hit the ground shattering with a loud crash that caused Spinelli to cringe and begin rocking back and forth and start emitting those dreadful mewling sounds again which chilled Jason's blood.

"Leave now!" He said, stepping forward, his paralysis ended as he grabbed her arm and started dragging her toward the door.

"What's wrong with him?" Maxie sounded scared and guilty as she twisted her head to look back at Spinelli. "I didn't know he was so messed up," she tried pleading her case with Jason who was far too busy pushing her out the door to deal with her excuses.

"I told you that you weren't helping, Maxie," he said, quite unforgivingly. "Get the hell out and don't come back," he slammed the door in her startled face and immediately forgot about her as he turned his attention back to the couch, ready to go comfort Spinelli.

He wasn't needed this time, though. Diane was sitting on the couch, her arms wrapped around Spinelli as he laid his head on her breast. She was rocking him back and forth and talking in a low soothing voice. "It's okay, you're safe. It was just a lamp - Maxie knocked it over by accident. She's gone now and you don't need to worry about her coming back, Jason and I will see to it..." She kept up the reassuring litany as Jason moved to sit next to them on the arm of the sofa.

Diane looked at him over Spinelli's bowed head, her face was anguished and her eyes bright with tears. Jason placed a consoling hand onto Spinelli's shoulder. "It's okay, you're fine, and you don't have to worry. I'm sorry I let her in; I should have guessed she'd act like that. But Diane's right – it won't happen again, I won't let it." Now that Jason was back in his immediate proximity, Spinelli shifted to lean against him instead, and Jason wrapped his own arm around the hacker, temporarily ignoring the odd look that crossed Diane's face when he wordlessly accepted the motion.

Between the two of them, their words and touch managed to calm Spinelli down and the exhausted younger man lay back on the couch, his face tear stained. Diane covered him with an afghan and kissed his forehead. "We'll be right here. You just get some sleep, all right?" He nodded, the adrenaline gone from his system, and he was asleep in minutes.

Diane motioned to the kitchen, so they could talk privately without disturbing Spinelli, but Jason wasn't risking that again. He shook his head, moved to the table that now sat where his pool table had been. "I can't go far – he freaks out if I'm not around."

"I see," she replied, claiming one of the chairs while Jason stayed standing. "Has he said anything?"

"Not a word. And he hardly got any sleep at all, kept waking up with nightmares." It was what he was watching for now, in fact, his eyes across the room on Spinelli. "I know Maxie wasn't helping him, but I'm not sure I am either. I honestly have no idea what I'm doing."

"Well, you made it through the night with him in one piece. You must be doing something right." Diane countered. "I saw the pictures of the house where you found him. Whoever did that – Spinelli's probably scared they'll come after him, and I know that boy trusts you more than he probably does anyone else on the planet. So if he wants you to stay close, it probably isn't a bad idea."

Jason knew that. He wasn't complaining about the proximity issue at all – he had no intentions of letting Spinelli out of his sight as long as whoever had done this was still out there. But he knew Diane probably knew that already, too.

"I should be going now, but I'll be in touch. Mac has promised to keep me informed about the investigation, and if he has any… questions for you or Spinelli, he's to go through me first. No need for any unexpected visitors to send Mr. Grasshopper into any further panic attacks." She assured him, her own eyes wandering back over to the soundly sleeping Jackal. "And I'll be sure to warn Max about letting Miss Jones up here again when I meet him for coffee later."

"Thanks." Jason said simply, as she headed for the door. He moved to clean up the shattered remnants of the lamp before he claimed the chair by the sofa to get some rest himself.


	6. Chapter 6

Breaking The Silence

_**I started this a while ago, but recently started working on it again, with major help from suerum, who is - for the record, awesome - it's not quite done yet, but it's getting there. Set a bit in the future (November 2010-ish) and assumes Maxie and Spinelli broke up and that Jason and Sam have also called it quits again. Mix between a casefile fic and a regular drama/hurt/comfort/romance kind of fic. Original characters aren't mine, even though I may not actually want them. Reviews are awesome, and enjoy!  
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**_**Chapter _6_**_**  
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Spinelli slept soundly for another forty minutes. At which point, he woke with a start, managing to tumble off the edge of the sofa in the process. Luckily, he didn't hit his head on the coffee table.

"You alright?" Jason asked, as he quickly moved to the younger's side, helping him back onto the couch. Spinelli's eyes were wide – not in the beginnings of a panic attack, but as the lingering effect of whatever had occurred in this most recent nightmare. Jason watched as Spinelli stared at the carpet for several minutes before offering a nod in response to his question.

He didn't know what to say. He had no idea what the nightmares were about – what happened, who it happened to, those were all still mysteries. "It'll get better." He settled on, finally. He'd had his share of nightmares, and eventually they did all fade away.

"You want to try to sleep again?" Jason pressed, though he knew the answer even before Spinelli shook his head in protest. "Okay. Something to eat, then?" The kid hadn't eaten since sometime yesterday morning - he'd gone missing not long after that and he doubted his heartless captor had fed him while brutally slaying two others - so he wasn't terribly surprised when this question got a nod. That decided, he helped Spinelli to his feet – rather, foot – and together they hobbled toward the kitchen.

Once he had Spinelli safely settled, he moved about the kitchen, throwing something quick together for both of them before he tried to ask Spinelli any more questions. "Just eat whatever you feel up to." He said, setting the plate of food and an orange soda before the younger man, along with a couple of Aspirin's for his foot.

Spinelli nodded and swallowed the pills dry before digging into the food. Jason sat across from him, picking at his own, as he watched the younger man intently. He had questions, important ones that needed answering, but there was no way in hell that he'd try to force Spinelli into compliance like Maxie had. No, he'd have to take a different approach if he wanted to get anywhere at all.

A pad of paper had been stuck to the door of the refrigerator. Spinelli had put it there some time ago; it was a scary shade of neon green with equally neon frogs decorating the corners. It would have to do for now. After grabbing that and a pen, he returned to the table and slid the items across to Spinelli, who had finished eating.

"I know you don't want to talk, but will you write for me instead?" Jason asked, and Spinelli seemed to consider this request for a moment before offering a nod. "Okay, good. You need anything?"

Spinelli dropped his head and scribbled out a word in his chicken scratch handwriting. '_Water?' '_

Jason noted the untouched orange soda and quickly got up to trade it for a water bottle from the fridge. Spinelli denying orange soda was just plain scary. But he would worry about that later. Leaning now against the counter, he cautiously asked another question. "Will you tell me what happened?"

'_No__.__ Can't__.'_

Jason tensed as he read the words, felt the surge of anger at whoever had done this to Spinelli tighten around his heart once again. "No one can get to you as long as you're with me, you know that, right? I won't let anyone hurt you, so if you're afraid of-" Spinelli was writing again, cutting across Jason's assurances.

'_Don't remember.'_

He certainly hadn't expected that.

"What's the last thing you do remember?" He asked, hoping to get some sort of idea on where they should start looking for answers. Spinelli paused for a long moment before hastily scrawling an answer of, '_Jackal PI stakeout__.__ Don't know what case__.__ Then nothing but blood and screaming until you__._'

Jason nodded. He could work with that. "Okay. We'll go over to the office, try to find the file for what you were working on and see if that helps you remember anything else."

Spinelli frowned and shook his head, scribbling away again. '_Don't want to go_.'

Jason couldn't blame him for that. He probably wouldn't have wanted to remember what went on in that room either. But it had to be done. "You're the only one who knows what we're looking for." He pressed on, daring to push a little harder against Spinelli's mind.

But the hacker was determined. He shook his head and, in bigger letters, he wrote out '_NO_.' And then amended it with, '_Please, not yet_.'

Jason didn't push him further. "Okay. I'll call Sam later, get her to grab the files and bring them over, how about that? You and I can just stay here and rest." Jason bargained, hoping that staying at home would maybe lessen the terror of finding the right file.

'_Okay_.' Spinelli wrote, his slumped posture indicating his resignation to the plan rather than his whole hearted participation. It was clear that forgetting was the infinitely more palatable option for him at the moment. Another note followed a few minutes later, '_Can we try to sleep again?_ '

Jason nodded, "Yeah, we can do that." He cleared the table, leaving the dishes in the sink to deal with later. While Spinelli was still in proximity to pen and paper, he added another question of his own. "How bad are the nightmares?"

'_Bad_. _Less so when you're around_.' Spinelli scribbled out quickly, ducking his head in embarrassment.

"Guess I'll just have to be around a lot, then, won't I?" Jason countered, as he helped Spinelli back to his feet and out of the room. He was close enough not to miss the small shadow of a smile that crossed Spinelli's features at his words. The first sign of one he'd seen since finding Spinelli.

They headed upstairs, making slow but steady progress towards Spinelli's room, and then they bypassed it. At the confused look Spinelli shot him, Jason explained. "My room's darker than yours; it'll be easier to get to sleep." He said simply, though that was a very small part of his reasoning. There were at least three weapons stashed in his room, and in the event that someone was crazy enough to try something against Spinelli here, he wanted to be prepared. "And it's not pink."

He got another half-smile for his half-hearted teasing at the expense of the regrettably pink walls, and Spinelli didn't protest the change in direction. The room was darker than Spinelli's would have been. The sole window in the room was draped by a black-out curtain, which Jason pulled shut as he passed by it, cutting out nearly all of the late-morning light - it could have been midnight by the looks of the room.

Jason pulled back the covers and made sure Spinelli was settled before climbing in himself. "Wake me up if you need anything, okay?" He prompted, already letting his own eyes drift shut.

He was bordering on the edges of sleep when he felt the bed move, though, which got his attention. He was pretty sure Spinelli hadn't fallen into a nightmare quite that fast – he usually got a little bit of sleep before one hit.

"Spinelli?" He asked, one eye opened enough to see through the darkness.

The younger man just hummed lightly and stopped his restless shifting - obviously the cause of the movement – and instead he moved closer to Jason, burying his head into Jason's neck like he had done just after Jason had found him. He didn't fight against Spinelli's unexpected move, instead he let one arm curl around Spinelli's chest, settling somewhere on his side, the other came up to land on the back of Spinelli's neck, drawing random patterns there. It lulled them both to sleep in minutes.


	7. Chapter 7

Breaking The Silence

_**I started this a while ago, but recently started working on it again, with major help from suerum, who is - for the record, awesome - it's not quite done yet, but it's getting there. Set a bit in the future (November 2010-ish) and assumes Maxie and Spinelli broke up and that Jason and Sam have also called it quits again. Mix between a casefile fic and a regular drama/hurt/comfort/romance kind of fic. Original characters aren't mine, even though I may not actually want them. Reviews are awesome, and enjoy! **_

_**Oh, there are some slightly porny bits in this chapter, but they're at the end and they're not particularly relevant to the plot. Don't want to read them, stop at the X. You've been warned.  
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**_**Chapter _7_**_**  
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They were closing in on three straight hours of nightmare-free, uninterrupted sleep when another knock came at the door. Only it was the door to Jason's bedroom and not the front door, so Jason was decidedly kind of concerned. But, then again, bad guys didn't typically knock to announce their presence, so he didn't know quite what to make of it.

"Jason, just me." Sam called out - just as he was reaching for the gun he kept in the nightstand – and she pushed the door open a few seconds later. "I heard about – O…oh. Okay, then. Not, ugh, not what I was expecting."

"Not what it looks like, either." He answered, yawning as he tried to untangle himself from Spinelli enough to sit up properly. "He's having nightmares, and this is the longest he's slept since I got him home."

"Alexis told me what happened. She said he wasn't talking – has he said anything yet?" Sam asked, crossing the room to sit on the edge of the bed.

Jason shook his head, talking quietly in attempts to keep Spinelli sleeping. "No, but he was writing earlier. He doesn't remember much about what happened – but he was out on a case before he ended up in trouble. Any idea what it was?"

She thought for a moment, no doubt going through the plethora of cases they had at the moment. Business had been busy lately. "We had a couple of typical cheating cases, a few background checks, some woman who was convinced the girl who walks her yappy, little dog was stealing from her. Nothing exciting, nothing dangerous."

"Somehow I doubt that the dog-walking thief was responsible for the double murder." Jason sighed, leaned back against the headboard and let his eyes fall on the sleeping Spinelli again. "Was he working any cases without you?"

"A few, but just other regular jobs as far as I know."

"Can you go to the PI office and grab his files for me?" He asked. "He doesn't want to go and he doesn't… react well if I'm not around him, for some reason."

"Yeah, I'll head over now." She said, as she stood and headed for the door again. "Enjoy your nap."

Jason slid back down to settle against Spinelli, arms wrapping around the younger's frame again of their own accord. Fingers ran absently through Spinelli's hair, but it was just a moment after Sam left that the boy started awake, eyes scanning the unfamiliar room cautiously before settling on Jason. Then they darted to the door, now mysteriously open, and then back to Jason again, and that accusing look started to reappear.

"I didn't leave." Jason said, catching on quickly. "Sam was here, all I did was sit up. I promised you, remember?"

Spinelli seemed to accept his answer, dropping his gaze, perhaps in apology for his jumping to conclusions. He moved to slide away from Jason, then, but the elder's arms were still wrapped around him and he wasn't getting away that easily.

"Relax, Sam won't be back for a little while. You can go back to sleep, if you want." Jason assured him. "Did you have any nightmares this time?"

He shook his head, seeming quite surprised himself at the answer.

Jason quirked his lips in a small smile, satisfied with that response. "That's good," he whispered, and something about the darkness, the close quarters, the silence of a usually babbling Spinelli, seemed to sharpen his senses.

He was suddenly feeling and noticing things he never had before. The pale, sensitive length of Spinelli's fingers resting on his shoulder, the tumbled down fall of dark hair across his brow, the way his lips were full, soft and inviting. Something strongly protective and possessive stirred him into action.

Without knowing what he was doing or even exactly why, he craned his neck and reached across the scant inches of space between them and pressed his lips to the hacker's. There was an immediate sensation of electricity that shot straight down his spine and Jason reached with both of his hands to clasp the younger man's face as he kissed him with greater force, his tongue insisting on entry and his teeth grazing over his delectable bottom lip.

For several long moments he indulged himself, exploring the slick walls, tasting the sweetness of his tongue. Then he recalled himself, remembered the trauma Spinelli had suffered only yesterday and with a curse and a sharp intake of breath, he pulled back - his mind aware of his duty, his body reluctant in response.

Spinelli made that mewling sound again - or so it seemed to Jason – and he was furious with himself for causing further damage to him in his fragile mental state.

"Sorry, Spinelli," he panted, trying to push away from the boy and put space between them so that the signs of his arousal wouldn't be so obvious. "I didn't mean to do it, it just happened." Now he was babbling in a clear cut case of role reversal as Spinelli lay on his side looking at him in the gloom, his eyes open and his pupils enlarged.

He continued to make that strange noise but there was a different quality to it, and Spinelli didn't seem to be upset or the least panicked as he had been on the previous occasions.

They lay like that for a while, just staring at one another and then Spinelli moved, he edged closer to Jason and without any preamble began to kiss and suck Jason's neck, his teeth grazing against stubble. His lips and tongue left a trail of warm sensation everywhere they touched and Jason had to fight himself to keep this from going farther.

"Spinelli," he groaned, miserable at what he would have to do but knowing that he didn't have a choice, because they just didn't have time for this right now. "We can't," his voice was heavy with regret and Spinelli stilled, his questing hand suspended at the button on Jason's jeans, "Sam's coming back." His voice was a groan and he couldn't help but carry Spinelli's hand up to his lips and kiss the palm, "I don't want this..." He darted in and placed a quick kiss on Spinelli's lips, "to be rushed. Later, okay?" He asked, almost pleading with Spinelli to agree.

Jason honestly didn't think he'd have the strength to stop the hacker a second time if he persisted in his advances.

Spinelli stared at him for a long moment, his eyes hooded and his lips red and ravaged looking. Finally he gave the smallest of nods, a small secret smile playing around his lips as he made it clear with his eyes that later there would be no stopping, no denial, and no interruptions. Later.

But, for now, they'd have to settle for getting out of bed. They were both too wired and awake to have any hope of falling back asleep, and just laying there together would undoubtedly put them back in the same situation they'd just agreed to postpone.

"Downstairs again?" Jason asked, though he kind of wished he could grab a cold shower first. But, then that probably wouldn't have the desired affect because Spinelli would probably be in the room, too, and then there were mental images of Spinelli in the shower with him and at that point he just had to force himself to stop thinking altogether.

More important issues had to come first. Like who had taken Spinelli and killed two people in front of him. That was a more important issue, he thought.

Spinelli nudged his arm, motioning toward the door, in silent agreement to going downstairs.

"Alright," he said, once again acting as Spinelli's crutch as they shuffled toward the door. The proximity it involved was significantly more noticeable this time around, and Jason found himself confused as well as still turned on. It was as if someone had flipped a switch and now everything in him was just focused on Spinelli.

Again, Jason settled Spinelli on the couch, although this time there would be no Maximista induced panic attacks. He had already promised himself that he wouldn't let Spinelli go through any more Stone Cold induced panic attacks, either.

Despite the fact that it was probably a bad idea, he claimed a spot on the sofa beside Spinelli, content to let the younger man relax and lean back against him. "She should be back soon." He said absently, as one arm curled around Spinelli's shoulders.

But, she wasn't back yet, so Jason felt entirely justified in kissing Spinelli again. Spinelli was not opposed to the idea, either, it seemed. And it was somewhere around the time that Spinelli's hand had wormed its way under Jason's black t-shirt that Sam came bursting in.

Whatever she had been intending to say – and she had been intending to say something relating to the single case file she'd brought with her – had abruptly been forgotten. It was replaced by a sharp clearing of her throat, followed by, "Again, not what I was expecting."

Jason and Spinelli broke apart, looking entirely unashamed at having gotten caught. "It's, ugh, exactly what it looks like this time, I think." Jason said, recalling their previous conversation.

"So I see." She replied, still trying to wrap her head around the rapid-fire change in the dynamics of Jason and Spinelli's relationship.

"Did you find something?" Jason prompted, catching sight of the file, which seemed too thick to be just a regular cheating spouse kind of case.

"Yes, in fact, I did." She said, glad that they'd gotten back to the initial purpose of her return visit before she'd forgotten to be mad at Spinelli. "He told me that he dropped this case two weeks ago."

"What is it?" He turned to Spinelli to see his reaction. He'd gone pale, whether at getting caught for not dropping it as he had claimed, or because it had sparked something in his memory, Jason wasn't yet sure. He took the file when Sam offered it, quickly leafing through the first few pages.

"A missing person's case. The kid's in college, but he's run away before, so the police didn't take the family's report too seriously. We looked into it for a week, couldn't find anything, and I thought we were done with it," here she paused to pointedly glare at Spinelli for not keeping her in the loop, "but apparently, we weren't."

"Benjamin Colson, 20. PCU student. Disappeared 3 weeks ago, hasn't been seen since…" Jason read some of the information from the file out-loud in hopes of Spinelli recalling something. But then he flipped to the next page, which had a picture attached. "You're missing person isn't missing anymore. This is one of the bodies from last night." Before Sam could comment, he flipped another page – another picture. "This is the other one. Who is this?"

Sam looked over his shoulder. "I don't know. Spinelli must have found it. Are you sure it's them?"

"Positive." Jason said, searching for a name for the second victim, a few pages of typed notes later, he found it. "Here. Tyler Davies, 19, Ben's roommate at PCU. Disappeared a week before Ben, but the rumors were that he went back to his parent's place, so no one was looking for him."

"We didn't know about the roommate when we investigated together. Spinelli must have found it later."

Spinelli nodded, but Jason was still flipping.

Another picture, this one of two men on a beach – one of them had jumped onto the other's back and both were smiling at the camera. "These aren't the same people." Jason commented, flipping the photo over – someone, though not Spinelli, had written on the back. "Evan and Keith, Summer 2008." Then there was another photo, this one greyscaled out, but recent. Two men in tuxes shoving cake at each other's faces. The bottom of the image had fancy script on it, "Joshua and Caleb Rhodes." One last photo followed that one, this one of two guys kissing in a bar, drinks in hand; it was labeled, as well. "Noah Frost and Cody Garrett."

Jason stared at the photos as realization started to hit. "You thought all of these men were missing, that whoever had taken the rest of them had taken Ben and Tyler, too?"

Spinelli nodded again, motioned for something to write with and Jason stepped away long enough to find a pen and some paper in the computer desk by the door. Spinelli scribbled furiously for a moment before passing the note to Jason. '_All couples__.__ Noah and Cody – last seen October '07__.__ Joshua and Caleb – last seen October '08__.__ Evan Donovan and Keith Vega – last seen October '09__.__ Ben and Tyler – last seen October '10__.__ Bodies turned up 2 months later in previous cases__.__ No connection ever made__.__ All over NY_.'

"Wait a minute," Sam said, catching on to another piece of vital information. "You were doing this on your own. You thought it would be a good idea to investigate a serial killer without telling either of us anything about it?"

Jason was silent, he had been silent for the last several moments, since he'd come to that realization on his own. He was attempting to process this newest revelation and the sheer inherent danger involved in it had taken his breath away. He had thought it was bad when he'd discovered Spinelli yesterday, covered in blood and next to two murdered bodies. He had been spending the hours since then counting his lucky stars that Spinelli wasn't the third body, that he hadn't lost him. His focus was on one thing only: finding the psychopath who committed these atrocities and making him disappear off the planet forever, thus insuring Spinelli's safety.

Now, though, now he was to understand that this wasn't a case of Spinelli simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but rather that he had actively been putting himself in harm's way, had been all but courting the attention of this maniac by looking into his crimes.

His body was rigid with rage, and while most of it was still directed toward the unknown killer, a portion of it was now reserved directly for the Jackal, super-sleuth extraordinaire and plain out and out idiot with a death wish.

What Sam was saying, her incredulity, worry, and anger wasn't even a fraction of what Jason felt coursing through his veins. Yet, he clenched his fists and remained silent, using decades of self control to stop his natural inclination - which was to turn toward Spinelli and shake him like a hapless puppy as he screamed at him, things like "How the fuck could you be so stupid, you idiot?" and "Do you have any idea what it would have been like for me if this creep had killed you?" or the most hurtful thing he could think of, "Don't you ever _think_?"

Yet, he couldn't do it, he couldn't say a word of it because Spinelli had already been so horribly traumatized already, he couldn't speak and was plagued by nightmares that Jason didn't want to imagine himself and he certainly didn't want Spinelli enduring. The worst thing Jason could do right now was add to his psychological burdens.

He swallowed hard and took a long, deep breath, willing his well practiced self-control into check. Jason was entirely unmindful of Sam's presence, aware only of one other person in the room, and he turned towards him - his friend, his roommate, his hacker, his soon to be lover, and in as level a voice as possible with only the slightest cracked edge to it, said, "You could have been killed, you get that right, Spinelli?"

His glacial, blue eyes were beaming straight into Spinelli's uneasy, green ones. He knew the boy wanted to look away but it wasn't an option. He kept their gazes locked, forcing him to face how close he had come to nonexistence. Vaguely he was aware of Spinelli's squirming, of a single tentative, conciliatory, "Jason," emitting from Sam, but he ignored it all.

"This," he gestured between them, with that one small motion encompassing everything they had been, currently were, and would grow to be to one another, "would have died with you; I would have died with you." A small humorless smile uplifted Jason's lips as his eyes shone with an animal ferocity, "I would have hunted him down and slaughtered him, and then I would have come after you, Spinelli."

Spinelli's eyes were huge pools of green and black, the pupils expanded in disbelief at the words he was hearing, his mouth gaping open in astonishment as he realized for the first time in his life that his choices, his actions, his safety, mattered to someone else, impacted their life, their happiness.

It was a new concept and not one he had ever considered in his 23 years of living. He knew that processing the feelings associated with this revelation would take more than the time available to him in this moment, but that he had to do something, take some action to remove that awful look of desolation from Jason's face, to fix this if he could possibly do so, to illustrate his repentance.

He did the only thing he could think of. With a superhuman effort of will he wrenched his eyes away from Jason's tortured gaze and grief ravaged face to grab for the notepad and pen. Writing rapidly in big block letters as if size could substitute for tone and emotion, he wrote, '_SORRY, I'M SO SORRY! I WON'T DO IT AGAIN, PROMISE!_ '

He handed the pad to Jason like a sacrificial offering and at first he was scared it would be refused, that there wouldn't be any way for him to repair what he had inadvertently broken. After a moment, Jason sighed and reached for the pad, he scanned the few words written there, the score marks so deep that the paper was ripped. This time the smile was genuine, small and wry as he grabbed Spinelli's neck and pulled him forward, their foreheads touching and their breath intermingling with a new but entirely familiar intimacy. "You're damn right, it won't happen again, "Jason breathed out. "You're not going anywhere without me for a long time." Then he kissed Spinelli, their lips merging, their tongues entwining, and the external world was entirely forgotten.

Sam discreetly let herself out, offering a parting comment of, "I'm going back to the office and working on this from there. I'll call you if I find anything..." that wafted into the air and disappeared unheard by either of them.

Somewhere in the back of Jason's mind, he registered the faint sound of the door clicking shut – but only in that it meant that Sam had left, and that they were alone now. They should probably have stopped, worked on the case and tried to figure out who had been responsible for what was now an alarming eight gruesome murders, but now wasn't the time. After learning of the position Spinelli had put himself in, how lucky Spinelli had been not to be victim number nine, Jason wanted nothing more than to prove to himself that Spinelli was still alive, still here and safe.

X

Jason let his hand drag through Spinelli's unruly hair as he pulled away from the kiss, nipping lightly at the younger man's lower lip as they broke apart, which drew a pleased, guttural sound from Spinelli.

Spinelli moved then, leaning back to lie against the arm of the couch and pulling Jason after him. By the time Jason had settled over him, straddling Spinelli's hips and using one arm to brace himself, Spinelli had once again worked his hands under the black t-shirt his mentor wore, and this time there would be no interruptions.

There was a frustrated whine against Jason's lips and it took him only seconds to realize that said irritation was directed at his t-shirt, which Spinelli couldn't quite work free from his current position. "Here, hold on," He said, laughing lightly as he broke another kiss to quickly pull the shirt over his own head and toss it aside. "That better?"

Spinelli nodded, hands roaming over newly bared skin and well-defined muscles. And, God, everywhere Spinelli touched seemed like it was charged with electricity that went straight to his rapidly hardening erection, which pressed insistently against Spinelli's thigh.

Jason shifted, this time to press his lips against Spinelli's neck, kissing and sucking and dragging his teeth over the sensitive skin he found there, and the feel of Spinelli's heart racing through the steady, rhythmic beat of his pulse was quite possibly one of the most comforting things he'd ever felt.

He started tugging at the base of Spinelli's sweatshirt, trying to get more of the deliciously mind-blowing feeling of bare skin on bare skin. Spinelli complied easily, lifting his arms and arching away from the sofa enough to get the offending article of clothing over his head, and Jason was careful as he pulled it over Spinelli's wrists, with the bandages present. He pressed another lingering kiss against the hacker's lips before trailing along Spinelli's collarbone.

"Mm, I like you in my clothes," Jason's lust-laced voice mumbled against Spinelli's chest, his hand moving along the younger's stomach to settle at the waistband of the oversized pajama pants that rested perilously low on Spinelli's hips.

He slipped his hand past both pajamas and boxers, allowing his fingers to curl around the erect organ. Spinelli arched off the sofa again, this time letting out a loud groan at the unexpected touch on such sensitive flesh. It was definitely a better noise than those blasted mewling noises. Jason ducked down to catch the younger's lips in another kiss just as Spinelli's hands started working at getting his jeans undone.

"Fuck, Spinelli," he breathed out as Spinelli's palm pressed against him. Jeans and the boxer-briefs beneath were shoved as out of the way as Spinelli could get them, trapped as he was beneath Jason, but it was enough for now. Fingers moved over him with deliberate inelegance, dragging and pressing and twisting in ways that were nearly his undoing. It was entirely unanticipated, this power that Spinelli seemed to have over him, this ability to reduce him to nothing in mere moments. If the younger man wanted this to go further, he really needed to stop.

Jason hated to have to do it – and was quite amazed that he still had enough blood flowing to his brain to actually accomplish the task – but he reluctantly pulled away, breaking the hold Spinelli had on him.

Spinelli stared up at him in alarm and confusion, wondering what he'd done to cause the all-stop, but Jason moved to kiss him thoroughly again before any doubts could arise. "Upstairs." He suggested, when they paused for air – they'd have more room there, the bed was certainly more comfortable than the couch, and the necessary supplies were there. And it also gave him a moment to regain some semblance of the self-control Spinelli seemed to have taken from him.

"Come on, then," Jason said, levering Spinelli to his feet and toward the stairs. He paused long enough to press Spinelli against one of the walls in hallway, balanced so that he didn't have to put any weight on his casted foot, and claimed a few more possessive, heated kisses before they actually made it to the bedroom.


	8. Chapter 8

Breaking The Silence

_**I started this a while ago, but recently started working on it again, with major help from suerum, who is - for the record, awesome - it's not quite done yet, but it's getting there. Set a bit in the future (November 2010-ish) and assumes Maxie and Spinelli broke up and that Jason and Sam have also called it quits again. Mix between a casefile fic and a regular drama/hurt/comfort/romance kind of fic. Original characters aren't mine, even though I may not actually want them. Reviews are awesome, and enjoy! **_

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**_**Chapter _8_**_**  
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Jason and Spinelli had already been awake for a while when Sam showed up the next morning.

Thoroughly satisfied, freshly showered and dressed (and, in Spinelli's case, re-bandaged), they were quite contentedly sitting in the kitchen and considering breakfast options via the neon frog notepad when she knocked at the front door.

Still unwilling to leave Spinelli – despite the hesitant nod that assured him he could – he called out instead. "C'mon in, Sam. We're in the kitchen."

She appeared a moment later, with a familiar looking messenger bag slung over her shoulder, and the case file that had been left untouched on the coffee table in her hand. "Had a good night, I'm guessing?" She asked, taking in Spinelli's change in clothes – another pair of too big pajama pants that had to be Jason's and a baggy black t-shirt that also had to be Jason's – and the much more relaxed atmosphere surrounding both Jason and Spinelli now. Wasn't hard to figure out from there.

Spinelli blushed and dropped his head; Jason smirked and laughed at him. "Want to stay for breakfast? We're having…" he paused to glance at the notepad, where Spinelli had scrawled out '_Pancakes?_' the single word was punctuated with a hopeful Spinelli looking up at him. "Pancakes, apparently."

"Tempting, but I can't stay long. I promised Molly I'd take her to the Natural History Museum for some report she has to write for school – and I'm already running late on picking her up. I won't be back until tonight, but I figured I'd drop this off before we left." Sam explained, and set the bag on the counter. "I found your car last night – parked on some side street not too far from where Jason found you - and rescued this from it before I told the cops where to find it. Do you have copies of the case information on your laptop?" Spinelli nodded in response, already pulling the laptop out of the bag. "Okay, I'm giving the hard-copy to the police then, so they know what they're up against. Maybe they'll find something we couldn't."

Jason, while not fond of police involvement, had to agree. "I'll make sure Diane knows about it all, too."

Sam nodded, already backing for the door. "Okay. Call me if you find anything." And then she was gone.

"You didn't have your camera with you on the stake-out, did you?" Jason prompted, and Spinelli quickly started searching through the bag, coming up with nothing. '**I did,**' he typed out, in a word document he'd pulled up on the laptop. '**It's gone, though. It wasn't in the car, it was with me.'**

He shrugged, so much for that lead. Though he was trying not to think about the fact that Spinelli had just revealed that he'd been on foot and not within the relative safety of his car when he'd been taken - they didn't need to have that conversation again right now.

"You want to work on looking into the case now?" Jason asked, knowing that they had to do it at some point. Spinelli nodded, so Jason left him to his work, and since they were both still ravenously hungry after their busy night, he moved about the kitchen at work on the requested pancakes.

It was some time later, long after breakfast had been practically inhaled, that Spinelli found something new. They were still in the kitchen, sitting side by side, when the hacker nudged Jason's arm to get his attention.

'**I tracked my movements on the stake-out on video surveillance.**' He typed out, and then pulled up a series of black and white video files, occasional ones in full color, and some that were just traffic camera stills, but Spinelli was in all of them.

The footage started with Spinelli on Courtland Street. The shady part of town that Jason really never wanted Spinelli near. He was kind of amazed working cameras, any cameras at all, actually, were there. "Why there?"

'**I checked records on the rooms in the motels. Guests don't usually stay long-term there, one room had been held for the last month.**' Jason nodded. It made sense - the motels there were more like pay by the hour sort of establishments, nowhere anyone would want to stay longer than necessary. From there, Spinelli – still in his car, thankfully – moved toward the warehouse district, which he just seemed to pass through. Then it seemed that he'd carefully circled around the neighborhood the abandoned jewelry store had been in, and then done the same thing again on foot. And then Spinelli disappeared.

"The motel room's not being held anymore, is it?" Jason asked, though he could already guess the answer. Spinelli's shake of the head was not unexpected. "And I'm betting on no security camera in the hotel itself?" This time he got an equally not unexpected nod. "And the guy probably paid with a stolen credit card or in cash?"

Spinelli pulled up an image of an old lady currently living in Florida, whose name matched the credit card information from the hotel. The odds were good that 92 year old Georgia Talbot was not their doer.

"There any good news?" Jason asked, out of questions that could possibly lead to such information.

'**Not yet.**'

From that dead end, they moved into the living room. And, after working for several hours nonstop, Jason realized that Spinelli's energy was flagging. He mentally berated himself for presuming that his stamina would be unaffected by the trauma he had undergone. His face was pale and his eyes black, smudged pits of exhaustion. They had worked straight through lunch without either one recognizing it.

"Hey," he nudged Spinelli gently as they sat side by side on the couch, both watching the screen of the laptop and analyzing the meager stream of information they had managed to accumulate. "I'm beat and I want something to eat and drink. Let's take a break and have some lunch and then maybe take a nap. Sound good?" Jason was the talkative one of the pair under these strange circumstances and he anxiously awaited Spinelli's response, hoping that he had phrased his idea in such a way that Spinelli wouldn't assume that Jason was concerned about him. If the hacker got the slightest inkling of such a concept, he would be sure to kick into full-fledged stubbornness mode and then Jason's only hope of getting him to eat or rest would involve the bodily laying on of hands.

Spinelli paused in his frenzied typing. He had been in the zone, that place he went to where neither time nor fatigue had much meaning. Yet, Jason's words had snapped him back to the here and now and he realized that his throat was dry, his stomach was growling, and his mind was reeling. He nodded his consent to Jason's plan, 'Sounds good,' he typed into the word document they had been adding to all morning. '**I'll just finish a few things up here and you can go into the kitchen**.'

Jason looked at him with a wary expression on his face, "You're sure?" He asked, "I promised I wouldn't leave you and I meant it."

Spinelli grinned and it lightened his tired face, making him look more like himself. '**Your Jackal is perfectly capable of sitting on the couch with his trusted cyber companion while Stone Cold is but a few feet away preparing a veritable feast to fill the aching maw that is currently my stomach.**'

He was thrilled to see Spinelli-speak return, if only on a computer screen. Jason nodded his agreement and leaned over to kiss Spinelli, their lips blending in a natural way as though they had been doing this for years instead of less than 24 hours. "Mm. We may have to renegotiate the nap aspect of the afternoon's schedule," he said with a mischievous smile as he got up from the couch and headed to the kitchen.

Jason was almost done with lunch - it was simple, just sandwiches, chips, some fruit, and bottles of water in place of Spinelli's rejected Nectar of the Gods (orange looked a little too much like red sometimes, Spinelli had typed out) - when the knock came at the door. Jason abandoned the food preparations without a backward glance as he headed out to see who their visitor was. Leaving Spinelli alone for a few minutes was one thing, probably even a good move along the path of trying to regain some semblance of normality. Yet, letting him, in his current fragile state, deal with a visitor - no matter how benign - was a different matter altogether.

He was too late, though. Spinelli had already hopped over to answer the door, and Jason wasn't pleased to see Sonny Corinthos standing in the living room, leering at Spinelli.

"Where's Jason?" Sonny demanded of the hacker. Spinelli dropped his gaze and stayed unsurprisingly silent, likely unwilling to do anything to set off the wrath of the dreaded Mr. Sir even if he'd had his voice. "Hey, I asked you a question! And what the hell are you wearing, anyway?" The younger man just tugged self-consciously at Jason's too big clothes, hoping that Sonny wouldn't figure out exactly why he was wearing them.

When still no answer came from Spinelli, Sonny sighed and opted for yelling imperiously for his second in command.

"Jason, where the hell... Oh, there you are," Sonny said, scowling as Jason came into view from the kitchen. "Why the hell didn't you call me?" He asked belligerently, as though the two men had been in the middle of some dialogue that had been hastily interrupted. Except that Jason knew they hadn't. The last time he had even talked to Sonny was more than a week ago.

"Call you about what, Sonny?" Jason asked mildly though his eyes were glinting with displeasure at this unwanted disruption in this fragile new world he and Spinelli were building. He knew instinctively that Sonny wouldn't understand, wouldn't tolerate this alteration in the relationship between Jason and his roommate. He could barely handle Spinelli in his life as it was. Friend and computer genius was too much for him to comprehend; there was no way he would ever make the mental shift to lover.

That aspect of things didn't concern Jason in the least, though. He wasn't giving up one more good thing in his life for Sonny Corinthos. He'd been there and done that for more than a decade and he knew the only way it would ever stop was if he said, plainly and clearly, "no more." Still, that wasn't a conversation he wanted or needed to have right now. After they caught the serial killer, after Spinelli was safe and Jason could breathe freely once more, then it would be time to declare his freedom from his overlord and perennial leech, Michael 'Sonny' Corinthos, Jr.

"About the newest mess freaky boy over here has gotten himself into, obviously," Sonny said with an irritated wave of his hand toward Spinelli, who was still standing by the door and still precariously balanced on his good foot. He flushed at the use of the hated nickname, clenching his fists in impotent anger as he looked at the floor.

Jason marveled at the hacker's self control, marveled at all the times he had allowed Sonny's brutal treatment of the boy. He hadn't stepped up for him then, hadn't fought for him, or protected him, and he was ashamed of his lack of action. He remembered the countless times he had made excuses for Sonny's behavior, had done little more than protest mildly, had fully expected Spinelli not to mind - and he had apparently absorbed that lesson all too well. Jason was loyal to Sonny and Spinelli inherited and practiced that selfsame allegiance regardless of what it cost his pride and his self-esteem (and on one occasion that Jason certainly hadn't forgotten about, his head).

Well, it was over now. Jason stepped toward Sonny, his walk panther soft and just as dangerous. "You know Sonny, I've put up with a lot from you over the years and I guess I just got so used to being your whipping boy that when you started to take your bad temper out on Spinelli, I didn't even really understand exactly how wrong it was."

Sonny rolled his eyes in irritation and dragged a hand over his face. He hated when Jason thought he had a right to be mad about something, especially when it revolved around the annoying cyber-geek. "Oh, don't start with me…"

"You were jealous of him, weren't you?" Jason's eyes blazed, but Sonny, in his supreme arrogance, failed to read the warning signs, didn't understand the subtle shift that had occurred in their relationship.

"Jealous of him?" Sonny looked affronted as he scoffed and glared back at Spinelli who hadn't moved, who was statue still as he stared intently at the carpet. "He's a nerd, a coward, and a social misfit. The only reason I've kept him around this long is because you seemed to feel sorry for him or something." He stared at Jason, something hurt and angry swimming in the depths of his flat, black eyes, "He caused us all that trouble with the FBI and we should have gotten rid of him then, but instead you snitched on Anthony Zacchara and I, against my better judgment - but because you asked me to - I even helped you get him." He looked righteously stern as he stared at Jason and reminded him of his noble past exertions on Spinelli's behalf. "Now he's gone and got himself involved in something else though, hasn't he? I heard something about dead bodies on the news. And I'm here to say, Jason, that it has to end. We are too vulnerable now to be in the public eye over something that doesn't even concern us. This time I'm _telling_ you to cut him loose."

"Or else what?" Jason's voice was even, but his entire body was rigid, a coiled spring of suppressed violence.

Sonny gave a dry little laugh, fully confident that his decision would be adhered too, that now they were just working out the specifics, "Don't get me wrong here. I'm not suggesting anything drastic. Beside anything else, if the kid up and disappeared at this point, with everything being in an uproar, it would just cause us more headaches."

Spinelli had finally raised his head and he was looking at Sonny with an expression of near panic on his face as he listened to his words of condemnation.

Jason longed to go to him, to hold him and comfort him and reassure him but that would have to wait. First he needed Sonny to finish. "Then what exactly are you suggesting?" He asked coldly, but Sonny was as impervious as ever to nuance of tone, to thinking that his loyal enforcer could ever seriously countermand one of his decisions.

Sonny shrugged as he ran his fingers across his chin, considering Jason's question, his gold signet ring catching the light and flashing. "I don't know, give him a nice commission and he can still work as a PI if he wants. He just can't be affiliated with Corinthos-Morgan any longer, and he can't live here with you, either."

Spinelli was so pale and drained looking that Jason thought he might faint. He needed to wrap this up once and for all, right now. He no longer had the luxury of waiting until later. "Alright, Sonny. Whatever you want," he said evenly, deliberately not looking at Spinelli, knowing that he wouldn't be able to stand the complete and utter abandonment that would be on his face. He hated doing it this way but Jason knew from experience that it was the only way to get Sonny out of their lives for good.

"Hm. Great," Sonny responded genially, a little surprised that Jason had agreed so easily, and that the kid hadn't put in his usual babbling two cents worth, but he certainly wasn't going to quibble. Finally something was going his way. "Glad we could reach an agreement."

"I'll have my resignation e-mailed to you this afternoon." Jason continued, and now he did dart a quick glance at Spinelli who was looking at him in open-mouthed astonishment. He sighed, he had really hoped the shock might have managed to get Spinelli to say something, to make some sort of protest or exclamation but he was still silent.

Sonny stared at Jason, quite thoroughly puzzled, and sure that he had misheard something, "Your resignation, Jason?" He was asking for clarification. "No, I meant that Spinelli needs to go, not you."

"Sonny," Jason was finished, decades of an unhealthy co-dependent relationship and it came down to one last confrontation in his living room. There wasn't even a choice to be made - Spinelli represented light, hope, loyalty, and love, while Sonny was a dark pit of despair, anger, and hatred - the sad part was that it had taken him this long to figure it out. "I'm done. I choose Spinelli, I choose freedom, I choose life, and I repudiate you." He grinned at a still silent, still shocked Spinelli - the hacker's vocabulary had rubbed off on him over the past four years.

"_Jason_…" the familiar grating whine was back in Sonny's voice as he prepared to argue, to persuade, to bully, to do whatever it took to get his own way, but he lacked the ability to influence Jason ever again. But, then he knew who was really to blame for this gross injustice. "This is all you, isn't it, freak boy? You put him up to this, didn't you?" He wheeled on Spinelli, stalking over to the boy and throwing a punch before Jason could intervene.

Spinelli went sprawling backwards, his shaky at best balance totally thrown off by the blow.

Jason rushed forward, hauling Sonny away from his lover. "Get out, now," he all but roared, and he reinforced the order by grabbing Sonny's arm and twisting it behind his back. Once he had his once-mentor cringing and squirming and loudly protesting, he shoved him toward the door. "If you ever touch Spinelli again, I guarantee that you will regret it."

"Damn it, Jason! You can't do this," Sonny's outrage over being manhandled would have been almost comical but Jason didn't find it funny. He knew it meant that he would have another danger to protect both himself and Spinelli from for the foreseeable future. Yet, as he slammed the door in Sonny's face, he couldn't help it - he felt light, he felt buoyant, and he needed to celebrate his own personal independence day.

But that would come later, once he knew Spinelli was okay.

He turned back toward Spinelli who was still ungracefully sprawled on the floor, looking dazed and uncomprehending of all that had just transpired before his very eyes. Thankfully, Spinelli wasn't in the midst of another panic attack. There was no high-pitched mewling noise, no hyperventilation, this time, just the silence - though Jason certainly wouldn't have blamed him if that had been the case, especially since the impact of Sonny's ring had left a small gash running just under Spinelli's eye. "I'm sorry I let him get that close to you." He said, "It won't happen again." He aided the younger man to his feet, steered him back to the couch and perched him on the arm of it as he titled his head this way and that to inspect the wound. "It's not bad. We'll just get some ice for it, okay?"

Spinelli nodded, though he still looked confused by the events that had preceded the attack. He visibly relaxed as Jason curled an arm around his shoulders and started to lead him towards the kitchen.

The ice helped, within moments Spinelli could almost believe that he hadn't just been punched in the face. Blissfully numbed, he leaned against Jason and tried to forget about Sonny Corinthos.

And Jason was completely amenable to that plan, it seemed, as his hands landed on Spinelli's shoulders. "I love you," Jason said as he kissed him with a harsh fierceness, "I chose you today and from now on I always will." The words were punctuated with repetitive kisses and the younger man easily molded himself to Jason's body. "Lunch." Jason said firmly as he broke away, ignoring the accusing look in Spinelli's eyes. "I need energy if I'm going to finish what I started," He wrapped his arm around Spinelli's waist and together they slowly moved toward the table.


	9. Chapter 9

Breaking The Silence

_**I started this a while ago, but recently started working on it again, with major help from suerum, who is - for the record, awesome - it's not quite done yet, but it's getting there. Set a bit in the future (November 2010-ish) and assumes Maxie and Spinelli broke up and that Jason and Sam have also called it quits again. Mix between a casefile fic and a regular drama/hurt/comfort/romance kind of fic. Original characters aren't mine, even though I may not actually want them. Reviews are awesome, and enjoy! **_

_**Sorry for the delay. I happened to be looking through files and realized I hadn't updated this one in a while. It's a short one, but the next is longer.**_

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**_**Chapter 9**_**  
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Jason woke to the muted, familiar sound of fingers flying quickly over a keyboard. Opening his eyes, while nearly unnecessary, proved that it was Spinelli. The younger man was wide awake, leaning against the side of the bed on which Jason slept, with his laptop up and running. It sat balanced on his pajama clad knees and the hacker was obviously intent upon his work.

"Couldn't sleep?" Jason yawned, reaching out a hand to lazily drag through Spinelli's messy, unkempt bed-head.

Spinelli nodded his head sharply in response, leaned back into Jason's touch and let his fingers keep moving.

It didn't take a genius to read Spinelli's tense posture – how he was as curled in on himself as both his cast and the laptop would allow, how his eyes scanned around the room every few seconds as if waiting for something to jump out and attack from the shadows. He'd had another nightmare.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" The elder asked, moving to watch the screen over Spinelli's t-shirt covered shoulder. The clock in the corner of the screen alerted him that it wasn't even five in the morning just yet.

As he expected, the word document they'd been using on and off popped up on screen and Spinelli typed out his answer. '**There is no need for both of us to be sleep-deprived, Stone Cold. Your Jackal will be fine, you should go back to sleep.**'

Jason shook his head in protest. "Not happening. You're up, I'm up," he countered. "What're you working on?"

Spinelli pulled up the cut-together security footage and pictures that followed the trail from Courtland Street to the abandoned jewelry store. Spinelli had been working on this most of all, on top of running checks on the stolen credit card that had paid for the hotel room and tracking down various other leads. Some originated from the evidence that the PCPD had processed from Spinelli's files and from the crime scene, and some he found on his own. But so far, nothing had led them to the man responsible for the eight brutal killings.

"Still nothing new?"

'**I remembered something**.' Spinelli typed out for him, and those words definitely got Jason's undivided attention. He kept tapping at keys before Jason could ask what that something was. '**He was coming back. I don't know why he left, but he said he would be back to deal with me, do to me what he did to Ben and Tyler - but then you showed up instead.**'

More and more startling news came up in the course of investigating this nightmare, Jason thought. First, he had to cope with the fact that Spinelli wasn't the blameless victim of some opportunistic abductor, but rather that he'd put himself in harm's way with no form of backup. Now, Jason had to process the realization that if he had taken mere moments longer in getting to Spinelli – if he'd so much as taken a wrong turn or waited a bit longer before he started looking – it could have been too late. Spinelli would have been dead. Not only that, but it also meant that Spinelli hadn't been meant to escape. It meant that Spinelli had seen or heard something that was potentially damning to the man who'd done this, and that meant that Spinelli could still be at risk.

He wanted to call Max – who had opted, along with Milo, to leave Sonny's employ as well – to have him up their security right this very second. Even Mac and the PCPD could help, if it meant that Spinelli would be safer.

"I don't suppose you'd want to disappear for a while, would you?" Jason asked, as thoughts of some isolated tropical beach – not the island, that was Sonny's now – or some famous city that would interest Spinelli, came to mind. Someplace so far away from Port Charles that it would undoubtedly be safe for him.

But, he knew the answer even before Spinelli answered him with a shake of his head. As traumatized as the hacker had been, Jason knew he wanted the man responsible for these horrendous crimes to be brought to justice. Even if it meant staying here and being at risk.

"Didn't think so." He sighed, sliding off the bed to sit beside Spinelli on the floor.

They sat there in companionable silence for a few long minutes while Spinelli typed faster and faster on his keyboard until suddenly he stopped, his face contorted with frustration as he gazed at Jason in despair.

Jason didn't need words to read what was so plainly evident in Spinelli's eyes, he was angry, frightened, and felt helpless to combat this unknown presence whose very shadow lay across Jason's room, invading their privacy and destroying their peace of mind. He reached over and with a gentle tug pulled the laptop from the hacker's grasp. "That's enough," Jason said firmly, closing the computer with a decisive click. "It's time to get some rest and tomorrow we'll figure out we're going to do. You're no good to anyone – me, those boys, or most of all yourself – if you worry yourself sick over something that you can't fix, at least not right now."

Spinelli looked at him, forlorn and anxious, as he listened intently to Jason's words. He responded with a minute nod of his head and when Jason stood up, he accepted the hand that was offered and arose from the floor to hop ungainly on one foot toward the bed.

"C"mere," Jason mumbled, pulling Spinelli down to settle against his side, always wary of his injuries. He let his hand snake under Spinelli's baggy t-shirt and absently traced random patterns on soft skin. "You'll be okay; we'll be okay, alright?" He pressed a kiss against the nape of the boy's neck and then one against his lips and smiled when he felt Spinelli start to relax. "Sweet dreams, Spinelli."


End file.
